Winston's Comfort Food Dinner

My dear friend Winston, who could easily give Martha Stewart a run for her money if he chose to make WJDJR an international brand, made our book club the most delicious meal a couple of weeks ago.

I was so entranced I had to try to replicate it. And I think I didn't do such a bad job! I used cheddar and asiago, but you could use any cheeses that please your palate.

So here for you today I give you:

Winston's Croque Monsieurs, Tomato Bisque, and Roasted Cauliflower
(aka Grilled Cheese, Tomato Soup, and Popcorn Cauliflower)

4 slices crusty bread
Dijon mustard
2 tsp honey
Sliced cheddar cheese
Sliced asiago cheese
2 thin slices tomato
2 medium-thick slices onion
Black forest ham (or whatever deli meat you like)
Olive oil

1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
1 tsp curry powder
Olive oil

Trader Joe's Creamy Tomato Bisque
(Yes, here is where Winston and I diverged: he makes his from scratch. I chose to go with this super-easy and very tasty option instead. He wins, again.)

First, get your cauliflower in the oven. Preheat to 450F. Toss your cauliflower florets with ~ 1.5 tbsp olive oil -- enough to coat, but not thickly or heavily. Add the bit of curry powder and salt and pepper, and spread the florets in a baking dish or pan so they're in a single layer. Pop them in the oven and leave them be for ~40 minutes or so. Keep an eye on them near the end to make sure they don't blacken, but you do want them to get nice and roasted and nutty, so they do need to be in there a good long while.

While cauliflower is roasting, assemble your sandwiches: slather one piece of bread with a thin coat of dijon mustard, and the other with 1 tsp of honey. Then build -- putting cheese on top of the bread, then meats and veggies, then cheese, and top with the other slice.

Heat a cast-iron skillet or grill pan til it is VERY HOT. Really -- let it sit there a while. If you're going to get these puppies to melt properly without burning the bread, your pan has to be hot. (So, please DO NOT use a pan with a non-stick teflon coating.)

Once it's hot hot hot, drizzle some olive oil in there and make sure it coats the surface, but that it's not too thick. Place your sandwiches in the pan and cover if you like. Then just leave them be for a bit.

If you're me, pour soup into a pan and heat over medium-low heat. If you're Winston, make creamy tomato bisque from scratch just because you can.

Check on your sandwiches every so often to gauge the cheese-meltiness factor. Once the bottom layer of cheese has started to melt well, you want to flip them over and get the other side of cheese melting and the other slice of bread nice and toasty.

Once your sandwiches have achieved "grilled cheese" status and your cauliflower is done, serve with a mug of soup. And be in absolute comfort food heaven.

And the New Secretary of Agriculture Is....

???

Who will it be?

I know who I hope our new Secretary of Agriculture will be: someone committed to changing the way food systems (don't) work in this country. Someone who recognizes that we need to move away from industrial, factory farming to local, seasonal, sustainable, and preferably organic farming.

I signed the petition asking President-Elect Obama to consider appointing someone who fits the criteria above. I hope you will, too.

http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/

If You Were a Baked Good....

If you were a baked good, what would you be?

I was at a meeting once and this was the "ice-breaker"* question. My answer was "Red Velvet Cake."

I saw this recipe for Red Velvet Cake today on one of the many food blogs I read, Pinch My Salt, and thought of this ice-breaker. And thought I'd put this question out to you all!

So, please -- in the comments, tell me -- if you were a baked good, what would YOU be?

(* Winston, this ice-breaker's for you. I know how you luuuuuuv them.)

Balsamic Brussels Sprouts (with Quinoa)

This is my post dedicated to the undersung hero of vegetables, the BRUSSEL SPROUT.

We've been eating a lot of them here at Casa Dena, happily, because these bad boys are in season right now! They're totally economical right now -- buy them by the stalkful!

I know, I know: you hate them. You tried them once and they were disgusting. Or you think you're supposed to hate them so you've never tried them.

But let me tell you, my friends -- you have never had them like this, and this preparation is what makes all the difference.

In short, it is: SO YUMMY!

This is one of my favorite go-to recipes. Of all time.

It's one of those that is just in my bones, that I could make with my eyes closed. I love that.

I love it because it means the dish is a part of me, and I love it because it means the cooking of it is easy. And I love it because when I make it, it comes out of my heart through my pores instead of through my right-brain filters.

I got the inspiration for this dish from a recipe I saw long ago in the Martha Stewart Living cookbook. As always, thank you, Martha!*

Dena's Balsamic Brussel Sprouts (with Quinoa)

2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
1 lb. brussels sprouts
1 large-ish red onion, sliced long and thin, with the grain (ie, from stem to tip)
~ 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (you're gonna eyeball it)

Optional Step 2 Ingredient:
2 cups quinoa, cooked (go here if you don't know how to cook it)
OR 1 lb pasta, cooked

Cook brussels sprouts in a pot of boiling water for about 7-10 minutes, or until they're bright green and tender. You want them to be cooked through, but NOT OVERCOOKED! It is this overcooked mushy sprout that gives brussels sprouts a very bad name. (As the good folks over at Martha Stewart's Dinner Tonight blog* mention, "overcooking creates that bitter taste that everyone hates.")

Drain in colander and rinse with cold water. Let them cool a bit, then cut the end of the stem off and remove any leaves that look like they need to go. Halve each sprout the long way -- from stem to head.

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter in a non-non-stick pan (ie, stainless or cast iron) over medium-high heat, letting it get a little bubbly and hot before you do anything else. (The olive oil lets the butter get hotter than it normally would be able to, preventing the butter from browning.)

Put the brussels sprouts in the pan, flat side down. Now, don't touch them! I mean it -- leave those babies alone for about 5-7 minutes or so-ish, depending on how hot your stove is. You want them to brown and get that delicious sweet, nutty flavor going without burning. Your nose will tell you when they're done. (See what I mean? This is a good recipe to have in your bones.)

Once they're nicely browned, remove them from the pan and salt & pepper them.

Add the remaining 1 tbsp each of olive oil and butter to the pan and add the onion, stirring to pick up the lovely browned bits left by the sprouts. Stir every so often, letting the onion get translucent and soft, slightly brown.

Once the onion looks nice and soft, step back a little and add the balsamic! It will give a hiss and steam immediately, and you do not want that vinegary steam going up your nose. Trust me. Stir immediately and vigorously, getting all the onion in on that balsamicky goodness. Once it's all coated and has started to even thicken just a touch, remove from the heat and add the sprouts back in.

Toss and ENJOY!

Or, go to Optional Step 2:

Add the cooked quinoa to the pan, toss, season with salt & pepper, garnish with parmesan cheese, and be in HEAVEN.

If you really wanted to, you could substitute pasta for quinoa and have yourself a delicious pasta dish.









* I swear to you Martha Stewart doesn't pay me or force me to say these things. In fact, she has no idea I or this blog even exist. She's just that good. She knows of what she speaks, is all. Plus her recipes always work really well for me, so I constantly go back to them.

Menu Plan for the Week

Well it's been a little while since I posted one of these. I assure you: I have not been without a menu plan these past several weeks, I have merely been lazy, forgetful, busy, or some combination of the three.

Anyway.

My menu plans have changed a bit recently, and not just because of seasonality! I am trying to cook as leftovery and economically as possible. So, I have started making as many things that provide delicious leftovers as possible. Hence the increase in pasta dishes. The fact is that pasta stretches a meal, cheaply. As do beans. Which is why you'll see more chilis and bean stews around here, too.

I would love, love, love any recipes or websites you know of that talk about how to cook frugally and to make food last longer than one meal. Send 'em on over!

Plus the kind of meals that make great leftovers are usually comfort food-ish, which are great cold weather dishes, too.

Here's what we're eating at Casa Dena this week:

• Sunday: Leftovers from last week (see what I mean?)
• Monday: Yummiest, craziest pizza ever from the Pizza Research Institute (makes GREAT leftovers; enough for a whole 'nother meal for two people)
• Tuesday: Chanterelle-Butternut Bisque (saw beautiful wild-foraged chanterelles at the Farmer's Market this weekend and could not resist. Plus this soup makes great leftovers, too!)
• Wednesday: Baked Ziti (I gotta post my recipe for this. It is quick, easy, TASTY, and in terms of making a pasta meal last -- you just put the pan in the fridge and keep coming back to it.)
• Thursday: Black Beans & Rice -- double batch for twice the leftovers. Oh yeah!
• Friday: Brussell Sprout Quinoa (which I will post tomorrow, I PROMISE. Oh I know; you've heard it before. But this time I really am gonna do it.)

And you? What are you eating this week?

Top Ten Green Culinary Holiday Gifts

My friend Kerry sent me this list of Top Ten Sustainable Culinary Gifts, and I had to pass it on! I love some of their ideas. These would make great gifts for the holidays coming up....

Some highlights:

• Heritage Foods USA - I love them! I made a heritage turkey for Thanksgiving last year and contrary to what some say, it was not gamy at all and was delicious.
• Seed Savers Exchange - Love them too! They're like the seed version of Heritage Foods. So many delicious and different foods are being lost in favor of the same old, same old. If I had room for a garden, you can be sure I'd be growing heritage breeds of veggies and fruit. Someday, someday....
• Green Pan - Okay this is the only one I take issue with. I came very close to getting a Green Pan because I was so over my teflon non-stick pan with its off-gassing and unhealthiness. But my dear friend Winston convinced me to go with the old-school non-stick: a cast-iron skillet. And I followed his advice, and I am so glad I did! It cost me all of $20, I think, and works like a charm. Plus it can absolutely go from stovetop to oven, is completely green, and you even get your daily dose of iron when you cook with it! All you need to do to make sure it stays in tip-top shape and keeps its non-stickiness is to never, ever, ever, EVER use soap on it. And keep it properly seasoned. More on this to come in another post.
• Heifer International - I love their ideas of buying a family a goat or a cow. But this year, I found out about some of their projects here in the U.S. and was very moved -- they're helping struggling farmers stay afloat and low-income communities in 28 states get connected to real food. I love that.
• The Malibu Company Bamboo Products - I love bamboo stuff. I have a bamboo cutting board and I use it every day. It is awesome. And very eco-friendly. I even have a shirt made of bamboo -- how can one plant be so hard in one iteration (cutting board) and so soft in another?
• Frog Hollow Farm - One word: yum. They have a store in the San Francisco Ferry Plaza and their stuff always looks AMAZING. Now I am drooling, thinking about it.
• Bacon of the Month Club - Holy moly. I have no words. There are several folks who read this blog who I know are, as they read this, clicking through and signing up.